Vox co-founder mocks Jim Jordan with ‘unproven and unsubstantiated’ conspiracy theory

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Rep. Jim Jordan: Michael Cohen is delusional

Vox co-founder and senior correspondent Matthew Yglesias implied that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has committed sexual abuse despite the fact that he was never accused of that and has strongly denied any knowledge of alleged abuse.

“These backbenchers keep yielding back to Rep. Sexual Abuse of Student Wrestlers (R-OH) like he’s the greatest interrogator in human history,” Yglesias tweeted as Jordan grilled former Trump attorney Michael Cohen on Wednesday during the House Oversight Committee hearing.

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Yglesias was clearly referring to a former wrestler whose complaints sparked a 2018 investigation into allegations of decades-old sexual abuse by an Ohio State University team doctor and who accused Jordan – who was once an assistant coach -- of knowing about the sex-abuse. Over 150 men have stepped forward to accuse Dr. Richard Strauss, who died in 2005, of sexual misconduct but Jordan has staunchly denied any knowledge.

Jordan’s office did not immediately respond when asked about Yglesias’ tweet. Vox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State,” spokesman Ian Fury told Fox News last year.

Jordan was never accused of committing sexual abuse himself, but the liberal Yglesias referred to him as “Rep. Sexual Abuse of Student Wrestlers” in his tweet. Conservative strategist Chris Barron took the Vox co-founder to task for the misleading message.

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“The left, which likes to fancy themselves as the smart set, has become a fever swamp cesspool of paranoid delusionals who spread unproven and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories,” Barron told Fox News. “It would be funny if it weren’t for the fact we are supposed to pretend like these are serious people engaging in meaningful discussion about the future of our country.”

Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State between 1986 and 1994. Strauss worked as the team doctor from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. Last year, at the height of the controversy, Jordan told Bret Baier that he would have reported any abuse that occurred during that time.

“I never saw, never heard of, never told of any kind of abuse," Jordan said. "We would’ve dealt with it if we knew of anything that happened.”

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Meanwhile, Mike DiSabato – who made the bombshell allegation that Jordan was aware of alleged abuse in the first place – has faced questions about his character and motive.

A founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus, Jordan is one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress. He came under attack by liberals such as Yglesias on Wednesday during the House Oversight Committee grilling of Cohen.

Yglesias’ recent work includes articles headlined, “New York is better off without Amazon’s HQ2,” and “The real national emergency is Trump’s incompetence.”

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Last year, the far-left Yglesias wrote that “phenomenon” Ocasio-Cortez “is the biggest star in the Democratic Party,” and therefore it is “completely ridiculous” that the Constitution makes anyone under the age of 35 ineligible to run for president of the United States.

“There’s nothing wrong with old people per se, but essentially everyone has lost a step or two both mentally and physically by their mid-70s,” Yglesias, 37, wrote. “The really awful thing about being old is that you just keep getting older over time.”

Fox News’ Andrew O'Reilly, Matt Richardson and Lukas Mikelionis contributed to this report.